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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27340600">On Your Toes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ramblingandpie/pseuds/Ramblingandpie'>Ramblingandpie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dancing, F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon, Shepard Survives (Mass Effect), Swing Dancing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:27:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,625</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27340600</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ramblingandpie/pseuds/Ramblingandpie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Samantha has a surprise for Shepard. It's... dancing lessons????</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Shepard/Samantha Traynor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Peeps Prompting Peeps Server Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>On Your Toes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/gifts">Rodinia</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You know how I feel about surprises,” Shepard grumbled from the passenger seat.</p><p>“I know. You tolerate them because you know I love them,” Samantha responded through a grin as she maneuvered the car through the rebuilt streets at the edge of London.</p><p>Shepard leaned her elbow against the door, cheek on her fist, as the city passed them by. It was remarkable what had been done to repair the city. Then again, she’d spent the first six months in a medically-induced coma, and the next six recovering in an intensive, inpatient physical therapy program. She’d only been out of the hospital for a few weeks, and the only place she’d gone was right back to the hospital for outpatient physical therapy.</p><p>Shepard glanced over at Samantha. Despite instructing Shepard that she didn’t need to dress up for the occasion, Samantha was wearing a burgundy calf-length dress with a swishy skirt. Suspicious.</p><p>Samantha slowed the car and pulled into a parking lot. “We’re here,” she announced.</p><p>Shepard looked around. It was a smallish building, and someone had hand-painted a sign on plywood reading “Dance Studio.” She sighed.</p><p>“Really? You think this is the time to work on my abysmal dancing skills?”</p><p>Samantha grinned that sly grin. “It’s the perfect time. Your physical therapist suggested it. It’ll be great for your sense of balance, something about your vestibular sense, and learning a new skill helps with all those neurons.” She poked Shepard’s temple. “And I’ve had plenty of time to kill while you’re been in intensive, so I started taking lessons ages ago. It’s good for stress, too, apparently.”</p><p>Shepard’s leg bounced in anticipation. She looked around the lot to try to gauge how much of a crowd she’d be in front of while making a fool of herself, and was surprised to see only one other car. Samantha tracked her gaze.</p><p>“It’s just us. The studio owner said it was the least she could do for the savior of the human race, to let us use the studio when she doesn’t have classes scheduled. C’mon, I’ll come around and help you out.”</p><p>Shepard winced. She was able to walk on her own, now, but still required help getting in and out of cars. She waited as Samantha turned off the engine, reached into the back seat for a bag, and then got out and came around the passenger side. Shepard reached up and steadied herself on Samantha’s elbow as she stood up, and paused, as always, to let the wave of dizziness pass.</p><p>“I’m good,” she said, and Samantha lowered her elbow.</p><p>“C’mon. It’ll be fun. And if it’s not, well, you don’t have to do it again.”</p><p>Samantha was clearly familiar with the studio. Her handprint unlocked the front door, and she turned on the lights without looking. “Street shoes off,” she instructed, pointing to a sign above a bench that announced “Absolutely NO street shoes in the studio!!” She reached into the bag and withdrew a pair of black flat tie-up shoes.</p><p>“At least you’re not making me wear heels,” Shepard said dryly.</p><p>“Your therapist would kill me before you even got a chance to do it yourself,” Samantha said. “Besides, I do like to be the taller one once in a while.” Samantha withdrew a pair of heels for herself, and sat on the bench to slip off her flats and buckle on the heels.</p><p>Shepard leaned against the wall to settle herself down on the bench, used both hands to lift her right foot onto her left knee, and unlaced her boot. Once that was set, she did the same thing to the other side, and slipped on the new shoes. She noticed the bright blue insoles. “You nicked these from home without me noticing?”</p><p>Samantha shook her head. “The podiatrist slipped me another pair when I told him my plan. He agrees, too, by the way.”</p><p>Shepard chuckled. She hadn’t realized until she was out of the hospital how much Samantha was helping to coordinate things behind the scenes: setting up an accessible apartment, stocking it with the specialized equipment she’d need for home physical therapy, coordinating with her doctors, and now, apparently, plotting dance lessons behind her back.</p><p>As she tied her dancing shoe, she turned to Samantha. “You are possibly the stubbornest woman I’ve ever met.”</p><p>“I’d have to be,” Samantha said, grinning, “to keep up.” She held out a hand and helped Shepard to her feet. “But now it’s your turn to try to keep up. Don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you.”</p><p>Shepard followed, still holding Samantha’s hand, into the studio proper. It was small, only a few meters in each direction, and the walls were mostly bare. There was one large mirror across from the entry. The other walls had several unpainted patches spots. The light fixtures in the ceiling were empty. Someone had strung a set of lights across two beams that ran along the sides of the room. There was a square section of floor, off to the side, where the wood was missing entirely and there was concrete visible; Shepard could only surmise that it had been used to patch other areas of the floor, after everything.</p><p>“So, uh,” Shepard asked, rubbing the back of her neck. “What now?”</p><p>Samantha took Shepard’s left hand. “Hold your hand palm up, like this.” She rested her own hand, palm-down, atop Shepard’s. Samantha then flicked her left hand to start her Omnitool, said “Start Swing one-oh-one playlist,” and let her own left hand dangle.</p><p>“Now,” Samantha instructed, “we’re just going to listen for a little bit and loosen up. Go ahead, roll your shoulders, bop left and right a bit.”</p><p>Shepard stood stiffly until Samantha herself began swaying side to side. Then, she began stiffly swaying side to side along with her partner. “You’re getting it,” Samatha said with a smile.</p><p>Shepard laughed. “I feel like a Krogan stomping around.”</p><p>“You’re not stomping! You haven’t even moved your feet yet.” Samantha gave a sly grin. “Don’t worry, though. We’ll get to that part soon.”</p><p>Shepard did not feel ready when Samantha began instructions for the feet. “All we’re going to do today is a very simple three-step pattern. I’ll show you first. You just keep bopping along, ok?” Shepard nodded despite the fact that she did not, in the slightest, feel okay.</p><p>“You’re the leader so you will give a slight push on my hand for the rock step.” Samantha gave a slight tug to indicate the pressure, and stepped her right foot back. “And it’s a mirror, so you’ll use your left foot when it’s time. Then forward again, and weight on the left foot, and repeat.”</p><p>Samantha demonstrated a few times, while repeating “rock step, two step, three step, rock step….” and “Little steps, whenever you’re ready,” after several repetitions when Shepard had not changed her own night-imperceptible bouncing.</p><p>Shepard took a deep breath and blew it out. “Ready?</p><p>“Just like boxing, don’t watch your feet,” Samantha warned. “Ready, set, rock step-” and she gave a slight push on Shepard’s hand as Shepard clomped her foot backwards, stepped forwards again, and collided with Samantha in the middle.</p><p>“Sorry about that,” she said, looking down at the floor as their hands came apart.</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Samantha replied. “I’m tougher than I look. Even in heels. Try staying on the balls of your feet.”</p><p>“Like boxing?” Shepard asked.</p><p>“Like boxing. If you come at me with a right hook, though, we’re going to have words about that later.”</p><p>Shepard laughed again. Samantha smiled. Loosening up was good.</p><p>Samantha held out her right hand, palm down. Shepard took it with her left. Samantha spoke. “Okay. Ready, two step, three step-” and gave a little push as she said “-rock step.”</p><p>This time, Shepard stepped a little lighter, arrived back at center, and stopped. Samantha furrowed her eyebrows.</p><p>Shepard looked down. “Wait. When I come back, I step with which foot? How does this work?”</p><p>“With the rock step, you step back with your left foot on rock, and then your weight on your right foot with step. Then two step is on your left foot, three step on your right.”</p><p>Shepard put her hands on her hips and scrunched her face up. “Okay. I think I got it.”</p><p>The music kept going in the background, indifferent to the delay.</p><p>Their next round, Shepard managed to make it through the sequence twice before she looked down at her feet and collided the top of her head with Samantha’s chin. Samantha yelped.</p><p>“It’s okay! It’s okay, Shepard.”</p><p>Shepard frowned. “I’m just not cut out for dancing.”</p><p>Samantha placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve never had time to learn fun things like dancing. It takes practice. I was still stepping on toes weeks into lessons!”</p><p>Shepard snorted a laugh. “Hard to imagine. You make it look easy.”</p><p>“It is now,” Samantha said. She stepped forward and put her arms around Shepard’s shoulders. “It took practice.” She began swaying side to side, dragging Shepard’s upper body with her. “Besides. Imagine the look on everyone’s face. Me, in some flashy dress. You, in, say, a tuxedo-”</p><p>“A penguin suit,” Shepard interjected.</p><p>“Whatever you call it, you’ll look dashing. And then you twist my arms around like a pretzel and twirl me around the floor. They won’t know what hit ‘em.”</p><p>Shepard laughed and let Samantha drag her shoulders from side to side. She placed her own hands on Samantha’s waist. “Okay but can we admit that I am much better at actually hitting people than at dancing?”</p><p>“I’ll give you that,” Samantha said, nodding. “For, though, let’s just practice this. Back and forth. My toes are probably safer this way.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Many, MANY months ago, Rodinia gave me a FemShep/Traynor emoji prompt that included shocked eyes, a dancer, a pretzel, and a penguin. I had a vague idea of what to do with it... and no time to write. Until now. I have very little knowledge of swing dancing but I did take lessons many, many years ago. I hope I did it justice!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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